Holgersen notches hat trick in state title game
By Cary Shuman
Michael Holgersen will never have to wonder how memorable an experience playing in a state championship game at the TD Garden could be for him and his Winthrop High hockey teammates.
Holgersen has now lived it. He has experienced it. And he has aced it.
One year after being denied the opportunity for Garden glory by a semifinal shootout controversy, Holgersen and a new group of determined Vikings were at the Garden Sunday competing against Dedham for the 2025 state championship.
A senior captain and an electrifying presence on the ice all season, Holgersen scored three goals to lead the Vikings to a 3-0 victory over Dedham. The cheers Holgersen received from Winthrop fans were likely the most thunderous since Matt Murray’s second touchdown sealed a 25-8 victory over Wareham in the 2006 Super Bowl.
Yes, Michael Holgersen is now in that pantheon of Winthrop athletes who did something so clutch and so cool that the Holgersenian achievement will stand forever in the annals of Viking sports.
And a case could be made that Michael Holgersen’s hat trick and his all-around effort – when you consider the stakes, the venue, and the entire fandoms of Winthrop and Dedham seemingly being in the arena – it may be the greatest individual performance in Winthrop High School sports history, which is saying a lot.
“He picked a great time to have his first high school hat trick,” lauded head coach Dale Dunbar. “His performance and coming through on that stage, you’re playing for a state title. and you know the other team’s going to be checking the line tight – it has to rank among the all-time individual performances. Holgie’s been a leader all year, and he really evolved as the year went along. He really put everybody on his back. That line [Michael Holgersen-Phil Boncore-Joe Pumphret] played dominant.”
So, there you have it, the day Michael Holgersen became a Winthrop hockey legend.
Forty-five minutes of hockey, a hat trick, a state title, and a lifetime of memories.